The subject of this proposal is a collaborative effort between DVP, Inc. and Johns Hopkins Department of Biomedical Engineering to develop a Physiological Signal Processor (PSP) instrument targeted at the ambulatory measurement, processing, recording, and telemetry of complex physiological signals and parameters; specifically ECG and EEG analysis. This work will be accomplished through application of the Field-Programmable Instrumentation (FPI) methodology being developed by DVP under sponsorship of the National Science Foundation. The PSP development will enable the fast design of the class of existing and novel portable biomedical instruments requiring a significant degree of real-time control and signal processing capability. The PSP would not only allow portable realizations of existing stationary biomedical instruments, but also would stimulate development of new research techniques and methodologies and would enable commercial realization of applications and instruments that are currently deemed uneconomical, infeasible, or impractical. A prototype of the PSP, an Advanced Cardiac Monitor, will be constructed during Phase I to prove feasibility of the concept through the implementation of a novel, portable instrument. This instrument will provide for the capability of real-time heart-rate variability and ventricular fibrillation analysis using Short Time Fourier Transform. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The introduction of modern Computer-Aided Design methodology to the PSP design process would allow researchers in a variety of areas to quickly and efficiently tailor functionality of their instrumentation to the experiments to be performed; and once defined, the functionality of the PSP instrument could be changed with the simple change of a software cartridge.